168 SALMONIA. [SIXTH DAT. 



sometimes prepare the way for evil fortune; for 

 confidence in success is a great means of ensuring it. 

 The dream of Brutus, before the field of Philippi, 

 probably produced a species of irresolution and 

 despondency, which was the principal cause of his 

 losing the battle. And I have heard, that the 

 illustrious sportsman, to whom you referred just now, 

 was always observed to shoot ill, because he shot 

 carelessly, after one of his dispiriting omens. 



HAL I have in life met with a few things, which 

 I found it impossible to explain, either by chance 

 coincidences or by natural connexions; and I have 

 known minds of a very superior class affected by 

 them ; persons in the habit of reasoning deeply and 

 profoundly. 



PHYS. In my opinion, profound minds are the 

 most likely to think lightly of the resources of human 

 reason; it is the pert superficial thinker who is 

 generally strongest in every kind of unbelief. The 

 deep philosopher sees chains of causes and effects so 

 wonderfully and strangely linked together, that he is 

 usually the last person to decide upon the impossibility 

 of any two series of events being independent of each 

 other ; and in science, so many natural miracles as it 

 were, have been brought to light such as the fall of 

 stones from meteors in the atmosphere, the disarming 

 a thunder-cloud by a metallic point, the production 



